High speed electrical connector having improved housing

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a high speed electrical connector, and more particularly, to a high speed electrical connector for transmitting high speed signal between mother boards and daughter boards or other electrical components.

2. Description of Related Arts

High speed electrical connector used in High speed systems typically has a great number of contacts, and an insulative housing having a great number of passageways for receiving the contacts. A high speed electrical connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,202 issued to Kline on Oct. 8, 2002. The electrical connector includes an insulative housing, a spacer, and a plurality of wafers having a plurality of contacts insert molded on the wafer. The spacer defines thereon a plurality of passageways each having an open side. The wafer should be assembled to the spacer prior to inserting the spacer together with the wafer into the insulative housing, since the contacts of the wafer are pressed into the passageways via the open side. During the assembly of the spacer and the wafer, the wafer is assembled to the spacer via an engagement between a plurality of holes defined on the wafer and corresponding posts formed on the spacer.

When the engagement between the holes defined on the wafer and corresponding posts formed on the spacer is not reliable, it is hard to insert the wafer and the spacer to the predetermined position. Therefore, the contacts could not be fixed in the predetermined position within the insulative housing firmly.

Hence, an improved electrical connector is needed to solve the above problem.

An object of the present invention is to provide a high speed electrical connector having an improved housing for firmly fixing a plurality of contacts.

To achieve the above object, an electrical connector includes a housing and a plurality of wafers. Each wafer has a plurality of contacts and each contact having a contacting portion. The housing includes an insulative base having a plurality of chambers and a plurality of spacers mounted on the insulative base. Each spacer includes a main portion, and a plurality of finger-shaped portions formed on the main portion. Each finger-shaped portion has a floor and a plurality of projecting walls projecting laterally from the floor to form a plurality of passageways. The finger-shaped portion inserted in the chamber of the insulative base. Each passageway has an open front end and an open rear end, the contacting portion of the contact inserted into the passageway from the open rear end toward the open front end.

The spacer is conveniently inserted into the insulative base to form the passageways having open front end and open rear end for easing insertion of the contacts along a back-to-front direction. The spacer and the contacts could be respectively firmly fixed in the predetermined position within the housing, via the convenient ordinal insertion of the spacer and the wafer.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of an electrical connector of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partially exploded perspective view showing a spacer separated from the insulative base of the electrical connector as shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a spacer of the electrical connector as shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded perspective view showing a spacer and a wafer separated from the electrical connector as shown in FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a wafer of the electrical connector as shown in FIG. 1 .

Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail. FIG. 1 illustrates an electrical connector 1 having an insulative housing 10 and a plurality of wafers 20 mounted on the insulative housing 10 . Each wafer 20 has a plurality of contacts 30 and shielding plates 40 .

Referring to FIG. 2 , the insulative housing 10 has a mating surface 101 and an opposite mounting surface 103 . The insulative housing 10 includes an insulative base 11 and a plurality of spacers 13 mounted on the insulative base 11 . The insulative base 11 is of a substantially rectangular cube portion and has a top wall 111 and a bottom wall 112 . The insulative base 11 includes a plurality of vertical wall pairs each having a first vertical wall 113 and a second vertical wall 114 , and a plurality of horizontal walls 115 perpendicular to the vertical wall pairs 113 , 114 . The insulative base 11 has a plurality of chambers 116 defined by the vertical wall pairs 113 , 114 and the horizontal walls 115 . And each chamber 116 is defined between the first vertical wall 113 and the second vertical wall 114 . The horizontal walls 115 have a plurality of protruding portions 117 projecting from the mounting surface 103 . Each protruding portion 117 is disposed between the first vertical wall 113 and the second vertical wall 114 .

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 , a plurality of spacers 13 are mounted on the insulative base 11 . Each spacer 13 has a main portion 131 and a plurality of finger-shaped portions 132 formed on the main portion 131 . Each finger-shaped portion 132 has a floor 133 and a plurality of projecting walls 134 , 135 projecting laterally from the floor 133 . The finger-shaped portion 132 received in the chamber 116 of the insulative base 11 to divide the chamber 116 into a plurality of passageways 136 via the floor 133 and the projecting walls 134 , 135 . Each passageway 136 has an open front end 137 and an open rear end 138 . The projecting walls 134 , 135 includes a pair of sidewalls 134 and a center wall 135 disposed between the pair of sidewalls 134 . Each of the pair of sidewalls 134 and the center wall 135 has an inner surface 140 facing to the contact 30 , and the inner surface 140 of the sidewalls 134 and the center wall 135 parallel to each other.

The finger-shaped portion 132 is disposed between the first vertical wall 113 and the second vertical wall 114 . The pair of sidewalls 134 and the center wall 135 of the finger-shaped portion 132 resist against the first vertical wall 113 . The main portion 131 resists against the protruding portions 117 . The floor 133 of finger-shaped portion 132 is separated from the second vertical wall 114 to define a cavity 130 adjacent to the passageways 136 .

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5 , a plurality of wafers 20 mounted on the insulative housing 10 in side-by-side arrangement. Each wafer 20 includes an insulative layer 21 having a vertical edge 22 and a horizontal edge 23 .

A plurality of contacts 30 are insert molded in the insulative layer 21 and arranged in a pattern of contact pairs. Each contact 30 has a contacting portion 31 having a pair of connecting beams for electrically connecting with a header pin (not shown) of a mating electrical connector (not shown). The contacting portion 31 is disposed on the vertical edge 22 of the insulative layer 21 for inserting into the passageway 136 of the housing 10 . The contact 30 has a tail portion 32 located at horizontal edge 23 of the insulative layer 21 , and an interconnected portion 33 interconnected with the tail portion 32 and the contacting portion 31 . The interconnected portion 33 is insert-molded in the insulative layer 21 .

A shielding plate 40 is attached to a lateral surface of the insulative layer 21 . The shielding plate 40 has a plurality of V-shaped mating portions 41 disposed on the vertical edge 22 . The mating portions 41 insert into the cavity 130 along a back-to front direction for electrically connected with a shielding plate (not shown) of the mating electrical connector.

In molding the insulative base 11 , plastic material is injected into a first mold (not shown) from injecting inlets (not shown). Because the chambers 116 of the insulatice base 11 have sufficient space, the vertical wall pairs 113 , 114 and the horizontal walls 115 are completely formed at the same time. In addition, in molding the spacers 13 , plastic material is injected into a second mold (not shown) from injecting inlets (not shown). The sidewalls 134 and the center walls 135 of the spacers 13 are completely formed at the same time. During assembly, firstly, the spacers 13 are mounted to the insulative base 11 . The finger-shaped portions 132 of the spacers 13 are inserted in the chambers 116 of the insulative base 11 to divide the chambers 116 into a plurality of passageways 136 and cavities 130 . Then the wafers 20 are mounted to the housing 10 . The contacting portions 31 of the contacts 30 insert into the passageways 136 , and the V-shaped mating portions 41 of the shielding plate 40 insert into the cavities 130 . The spacers 13 are conveniently mounted to the housing to form the passageways 136 having open front end 137 and open rear end 138 for easing insertion of the contacts 30 along a back-to-front direction. The spacers 13 and the contacts 30 could be respectively firmly fixed in the predetermined position within the housing 10 , via the convenient ordinal insertion of the spacers 13 and the wafers 20 .

While particular elements, embodiments and applications of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto since modifications may be made by those skilled in the art, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings. It is therefore contemplated by the appended claims to cover such modifications as incorporate those features which come within the spirit and scope of the invention.